Private Robert Ritchie

Biography of Private Robert Ritchie

Robert Ritchie was born in 1884 in Beith, Ayrshire. He was the third son of Mr John Ritchie, a Master Shoemaker, and his wife Jane Muir Ritchie, who were married in Beith on the 3rd of June, 1878. As a child, Robert Ritchie attended Spier’s School in Beith, before enrolling at the University of Glasgow in 1905, aged 21. In his first year at the University, Robert Ritchie began his study of Scot’s Law. He lived on Albert Road, Pollokshields, with a flatmate he simply listed as ‘Kerr’.

However, Robert Ritchie did not attend the University in the next academic year (1906 – 1907) and instead returned the following year (1907 – 1908), at which point he continued his legal studies. This time he shared a flat with ‘Stark’ on Great George Street in Hillhead, far closer to the University than his previous Pollokshields address.

Peculiarly, Robert Ritchie left the University once again after the academic year and never graduated. He worked for the Glasgow law firm Kidstons, Watson, Turnbull & Co, and did not appear in university records again until September 1914 when he enlisted in the army. Robert Ritchie served as a Private in the 17th Highland Light Infantry, until he was tragically killed in action in France on the 1st of July, 1916. His body was buried at the Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille, and his headstone bares a simple cross. Robert Ritchie’s younger brother, James, was also a University of Glasgow alumnus who was sadly killed in action in France on the 20th May, 1915. He is also commemorated on the University’s First World War Roll of Honour.